Chronicles of a Demon's Fate: Search for the Artifact
by ZoologyKaM
Summary: When you enter a world of darkness, and fall into the shadows, then you may glimpse the world where I dwell, but even then you will never understand my pain. Skoodge, novice puppeteer, gets lost in a dungeon and finds her way to the world of Fomors, where she meets Middee, a figure shrouded in mystery.


**_A/N:_**_ Welcome to a new Mabinogi story by me! –Middee yells at me from the background- And of course my awesome Mabinogi Role Play friend Middee! Who is not only one of the main characters but also the creator of this beautiful coverpic! Yay!_

_This story is based off of a role play between my character and Middee. Out of randomness I decided to record it. And well… it became this. :D The quote in the beginning is all me! Sorry it was the Role Play and this first four lines that started this. _

_Enjoy!_

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_When you enter a world of darkness,  
and fall into the shadows,  
then you may glimpse the world where I dwell,  
and even then you will never understand my pain._

**Chapter 1 – Enter a World of Darkness**

An eerie chuckle passed from under the hood of the deity. The white-winged ruler of the fomors let a small smile appear behind the hooded mask of the black robe. Through the mind's eye, Cichol watched as a group of Milletians wandered deeper into the halls of the dungeon. They were well beyond the protection of their Goddess now. "Go," on their master's command, the horde set off through the dungeon, their lust for Milletian blood growing with every step.

XXX

"Hang on a second! Wait for me!"

"Jeeze Skoodge… If you couldn't keep up then you should have just stayed behind." The tallest in the group, Genovad slung his heavy axe over his shoulder, making a clunk sound against the metal shoulder guards of his armor, as he turned back to face the pink-eye green-hair elf that was running up the corridor towards them. His white hair fell over his red eyes as he shook his head. "I mean really… what were you thinking would happen by following us?"

Araylina, the youngest, laughed, her pink hair was pulled tightly in a bun so even through her laughter not a hair fell out of place, "she's such a scaredy-cat," she said, "I bet she was too afraid to stay in Bangor and wait for us." Skoodge puffed out her cheeks, pouting, but didn't argue against the statement, which only made Araylina laugh harder. Both being elves, it was even harder on Skoodge to hear Araylina's criticism being that Aray was 13 while Skoodge was 17. Skoodge hung her head, as her cheeks flushed pink.

"Knock it off you guys!" Shenmi scolded as she stepped forward to Skoodge's rescue. "She has to come along on some dungeon clearings or she'll never get stronger." Skoodge hunched her shoulders, dipping her head so her eyes were hidden by the brim of her black goggle cap. She knew Shenmi was trying to help but always being protected was part of the reason why she was so weak to begin with.

Genovad sighed, "Fine, whatever… Just try not to get knocked out like you always do. I'm sick of wasting feathers on you."

Skoodge nodded and gripped her marionette control bars tightly in her hands. Thiagogd had remained silent through the whole discussion, but now he stepped forward and rested his hand on her head and smiled at her. Skoodge smiled and nodded. He turned away and pulled out his twin pistols, walking back over to the treasure chest. He tapped the side of it with his foot and immediately a group of fomors appeared in the room.

How the creatures always knew when someone was going after their treasure chests was something that no one, Milletian nor Tuatha de Danann, had ever understood. None the less, it was a helpful trait for when Milletians went in to clear out the dungeons. These monsters in the upper levels of the dungeon were weak, and a single swipe from Genovad's axe knocked all but one of them out, and the last one was quickly dispatched by Araylina's arrow.

The rooms went on for what seemed like hours. Eventually the group stopped for a short rest. Thiagogd built a fire while the other's all pulled off layers of armor to give their body's a rest. Thiagogd and Skoodge were the only ones that didn't have some form of armor; though it had often been suggested to Skoodge that she get a light set of leather armor.

"Sheesh this tunnel just keeps on going, and we still haven't seen a goddess statue to take us back to the entrance," Genovad groaned and slumped back on the ground, he turned to his side and stared into the fire. Araylina tossed her archer's glove next to her bow and took a seat next to him.

"It is weird that we haven't come upon any of the bosses yet…"

"Right?!" Genovad sat up and turned to Thiagogd, "What'd you offer to the Goddess to get us in here anyway?"

"A map."

The others all stared at him. "A map of where?" Shenmi asked.

Genovad groaned, "Please tell me it wasn't that fake one that you were showing me a while ago…" Thiagogd nodded and Genovad groaned again.

"What fake map?" Araylina questioned.

Genovad lay back down and stared up at the ceiling, folding his hands behind his head. "it was of some town that looked nearly identical to Bangor. Only difference was that the every building was marked as abandoned, and the place where that excavation site sits, was just marked as an empty hole." He paused, "Oh and the dungeon that was on it was called Baol, not Barri."

Araylina laughed, "how weird! What's the point of making a fake map?"

"Who knows… probably someone's idea of a joke."

"Skoodge?" Shenmi called out from her seat around the fire. "Don't wander off."

Skoodge stood by the large door that Thiagogd had just opened with a key they had taken from a fomor. She stared off into the dark hallway, not hearing Shenmi's warning.

"Yo Puppets!" Genovad yelled out with his pet name for Skoodge, "You'll die if you get lost."

Skoodge turned and hissed at him, "shut up a second."

"Something wrong?" Thiagogd stood and came up behind her. He rested his hand on her shoulder, gripping the black fabric of her sniper suit.

"I think I hear something."

Araylina stood up and made her way over to them, being elves, she and Skoodge had better hearing than the rest of the group. Everyone stood in silence as they concentrated on the sound echoing through the hallway. "I don't… wait…" it was faint, but getting closer. The voices of a hundred grumbling and snickering fomors, echoed through the hallway. When they saw the hoard that was moving towards them, each Milletian felt a surge of panic.

Before any of them had time to react the door behind them slammed shut with a CLANG!

"IT'S AN AMBUSH!" Genovad, Araylina, and Shenmi dashed for their discarded weapons, completely ignoring their armor, they dashed down the only remaining side hallway, all except Skoodge who stood frozen with fear. Thiagogd grabbed Skoodge by the arm and dragged the terrified girl behind him, pulling out one of his guns with his free hand.

He fired off a round of mana bullets, picking off a few of the closest gremlins, only to have each one he killed be replaced by two or three others. Araylina fired some arrows running backwards, each arrow flew straight and true but was as effective on the group as Thiagogd's attempts.

The path turned a sharp left. They rounded it and sped past Shenmi who had stopped to summon a fireball spell which she let loose flying at the corner. They didn't need to look back at the explosion to know that it had done some damage. The fomors screeched and howled in rage, continuing the chase.

"Where the hell is a Goddess statue!?" Genovad swore under his ragged breath. His light shirt flapped as the stale dungeon air whipped past them. "Skoodge! You're fastest! Run ahead and find us a way out!"

"What!?"

"We'll hold them off as best we can!" He stopped dead and swung his axe around, taking a battle stance. Shenmi and Araylina did the same. Thiagogd yanked at Skoodge's arm and swung her past him as he too turned. Skoodge stalled to watch them. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET MOVING!"

Skoodge didn't wait to be told again. She tore down the dungeon path as fast as her legs would take her. The tunnel twisted and turned for what seemed like miles, but all along the sounds of the battle echoed to her ears. It didn't matter which way she turned or how many rooms she looked into, the statue of the Goddess, the symbol of safety in a dungeon, just didn't seem to exist.

Fear for her friends swelled within her and she ran all that much faster, until she slammed hard into something. She fell backwards to the ground, almost afraid to look up, and with good reason, because before her stood a massive troll. Skoodge barely rolled out of the way as the beast slammed its club down on the ground where she had just been.

She struggled to get her control bars off her belt as she dodged another attack. She wasn't the greatest fighter when it came to mobs, but with a single opponent she could dodge any attack. The troll's club caught her in the back, forcing her to amend that statement. Finally getting the twin wood-carved crosses free; Skoodge summoned her armored Colossus and attacked with a rising action, smashing the troll backwards a few steps. It roared in anger and ran with its club at the ready but it never made it that far.

The room around them began to shake. Both Skoodge and the troll struggled to remain on their feet. They were managing to succeed, until the floor beneath them crumbled away. Both Milletian and Fomor leapt for safety, but only the troll ever found a foothold.

Skoodge fell, tumbling into the black abyss.

XXX

"Still sulking around, are we, Middee?"

"Oh… it's you, Devonia."

The red haired woman, called Devonia, walked over and sat down next to her red robed friend. Middee's black hair hung down past her hood into her face, she blew up at it in annoyance. Devonia smirked, "What do you mean 'Oh it's you'? How rude! And after I came all this way to see you!" her lips formed into a pout, but her bright green eyes sparkled with mischief.

Middee stared off into the red sky, her legs dangled off the edge of a short cliff overlooking an abandoned town. She made no response. Devonia laughed, "Chill, I'm just messing with you."

"So then?... What did you want?"

"Straight to it as always… The master is getting impatient. You know what to do so get it done. The masters words exactly." A low growl escaped Middee's throat and Devonia laughed again. "Well I can see you're in no mood to talk; I'll just leave you to your work."

Middee stared out at the perpetual sunset that remained over the land, and sighed. "On occasion I wonder of my origin…" the whisper barely escaped her lips. "is my existence even for a purpose?.." Her eyes closed softly as a cool breeze blew. Her hand rested upon the other as her head slightly tilted to the side; her lids shielded her eyes gently. "…or am I just a tool of a violent design to continuously shave the skin off bones..." As she sat under the moon, the hints of a melody played at her lips.

A crack of slipping rock from below drew her attention, as a lone figure stumbled out of Baol dungeon.


End file.
